AMJN National Exhibition 2022
Welcome to National Exhibition 2022 It was Sara Sheridan who wrote: “Without archives, many stories of real people would be lost, and along with those stories, vital clues that allow us to reflect and interpret our lives today.” It is with this huge sense of preserving history that the Majlis Ansarullah Ahmadiyya Nigeria presents to the public an Exhibition titled: “National Exhibition 2022”. The theme of the program is “Islam-ul-Ahmadiyya in Prints and Visuals”. For full details pls follow this link NATIONAL EXHIBITION 2022
AIMAAN Holds U-18 Taekwondo Open Championship
AHMADIYYA INTERNATIONAL MARTIAL ARTS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (AIMAAN) IN CONJUNCTION WITH LAGOS STATE TAEKWONDO ASSOCIATION HOSTS THE 3RD AIMAAN UNDER -18 TAEKWONDO OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP (EKO 2022). The Ahmadiyya International Martial Arts of Nigeria (AIMAAN) U-18 3rd Taekwondo Open Championship was held on the 1st of October 2022, at Indoor Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos State. The One-day championship featured numerous athletes from different states, notable people from different Taekwondo Associations in the country and several Taekwondo clubs. The first U-18 AIMAAN Open Championship was held in 2017 at Ojokoro, Lagos state. The second edition was held in 2019 at Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Oyo State with a total number of 96 athletes from 3 states and 7 clubs, and 10 officials. The third edition hosted a total number of 260 athletes from 6 states and 19 clubs with quality officiating by 45 Taekwondo officials. The championship could not hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the Global pandemic crises (COVID -19) that ravaged the world. The event which was organized by AIMAAN under the coordination of Majlis Khuddam-ul Ahmadiyya Nigeria (MKAN) was done to give a sense of self-esteem, knowledge of self-defense, heightened mental and physical well-being of the athletes. Most importantly, AIMAAN U-18 Open Championship featured athletes from different clubs and schools in Nigeria, numerous national and regional academies and martial arts organizations including Lagos State Taekwondo Association, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), Nigeria Taekwondo Black Belt College (NTBBC), Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Majlis Khuddam ul Ahmadiyya, Nigeria (MKAN), Majlis Ansarullah of Nigeria (MAAN). All athletes arrived at the stadium at exactly 6:00am, just like any other Taekwondo competitions, the athletes were weighed, and the competition started at exactly 8:00am. The dignitaries at the event were Amir Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria Alh. (Barr) Alatoye Folorunsho Abdul Azeez, Sadr MKA Nigeria Mr. Abdur Roqib Akinyemi, Lagos State Taekwondo Association, Chairman (Master Jimmy Ogunnowo), Lagos State Taekwondo Coach (Master Peace Ogunnowo), NTBBC Vice President GM Abdul Muhmeen (Big Abdul), NTF Vice President GM Tayo Popoola, GM Rafiu Ibrahim (King) among others. 260 athletes from 8 states (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kebbi, Ondo, Kwara, Osun and the FCT) participated in the Championship with over 200 spectators within and outside Lagos state came to grace the AIMAAN U-18 3rd Open Championship. Winners of competitions in different categories were given medals and certificates. PHOTO NEWS
REMEMBRANCE ( ALHAJI ISA ADEITE OLANREWAJU OLAYINKA 1930-2022)
Innalillahi Wainna ilayhi rojiun. We remember our father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Alhaji (Prince) Isa Adeite Olanrewaju Olayinka today as always. It is exactly 20 years today (29th October 2002) that you left this world and passed on to glory. (1930 – 2022) A pioneer member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, Mushin Branch & Palmgrove zone. A Builder of high repute, A Philanthropist, A Family Pivotal & A great Achiever. Alhaja Sabitiu Olaide Olayinka – WIFE CHILDREN Mrs. Sikirat Folayemisi Akinsanya – France Mr. Abdul Yakeen Oladele Olayinka – Lagos Mainland Circuit President Mr. Abdul Fatah Owolabi Olayinka – Odogbolu Jama’at President Mr. Tajudeen Adebukonla Olayinka – Idimu Jama’at Umur Amma Officer Mrs. Nurullah Omobolanle Zubair – Lajna President Ajido Muqami, Badagry Circuit Mrs. Khadijat Gbeminiyi Ghazal – Agunfoye Jama’at Member Bro. Sulaiman Olanshile Olayinka – Deceased Mr. Hussein Taiwo Olayinka – France Mrs. Husseinat Kehinde Olayinka – United Kingdom. Sunre ooo Lanrewaju omo Lubu, Omooba Moloda Agada L’Odogbolu.
AHMADIYYA OPENS ULTRA-MODERN MOSQUE IN BADAGRY
Condemns Owo Massacre in Strong Terms It was a huge landmark and historic day on Sunday, 19th June 2022 as the National Head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, Barr. Alatoye Folorunso AbdulAzeez commissioned an Ultra-Modern Central Mosque at Ajagamibo Avenue, Aradagun Badagry in Lagos State. The worship centre was built with state-of-the-art facilities, tiled both within and outside, embedded with good-looking minarets, and surrounded by attractive flowers in a serene and spacious environment. Named ‘Baitul-Fatah Mosque’, the place of worship can easily accommodate over 600 worshippers at once. The foundation of the Mosque was first laid in October 1980 by the then head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Nigeria, His Eminence Ajmal Shaheed Ahmad. The foundation stone was re-laid on Saturday 19th February 2022 by the Badagry Branch President of the Muslim Organization, Pa. M.B Okubena. Hence the mosque project was completed in a record four-month. The Mosque was built and donated by one of the blessed families of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community – the Popoola family in honor of their late father Alhaj Abdul Fatah Atanda Popoola who was a staunch and devoted member till his demise in 1982. In his address, the National Head of the Muslim organization lauded the initiatives of the Popoola family, stressing the importance of Mosque building and its aftermath rewards in the hereafter. He added that all places of worship must be sacred centres void of evil acts. Alhaji Alatoye further admonished worshippers to always have pure and sincere minds when observing prayers in Mosques as this is pleased with Almighty God. “The rewards for building Mosques in honor of our late loved ones are in multitudes. It is a life-time reward. The initiative of the Popoola family is hereby commendable”. “We must worship in the Mosque with our hearts filled with love, kindness, and piety. Everything we do in the Mosque must be Godly. May Allah accepts our sincere prayers,” he prayed. Owo Massacre highly condemnable Alhaji Alatoye also used the opportunity to, once again, condemn in strong terms, the brutal attack on worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo State. He stated: “It is difficult to believe any group of individuals could have the audacity to attack a place of worship filled with human beings who were gathered to worship God, the Almighty. This is the peak of an affront against God and man that will never go unpunished. There is no absolutely no justification whatsoever for any group of people to engage themselves in such a callous and dastard act.” “Even in the face of a defensive response to an act of war, the Holy Quran expressly forbids believers from attacking places of worship, children, women, and priests.” The Amir further informed that the youths of the organization joined others in donating blood to the surviving victims of the barbaric attacks. He thus urged the police force to fish out all the perpetrators and their masterminds and made them to face the full wrath of the law for their devilish acts.
From Misrepresentation to Representation of Facts: A Rejoinder to a Propaganda against Ahmadiyya
By Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo The enterprise of peddling propaganda or fabrication or misrepresentation or misinformation or a combination of them all against the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community by some self-appointed ‘gate-keepers’ of Islam among the mainstream Muslim scholars has been an age-long trend. Their main objective has invariably been to distance the uninformed or ill-informed Muslim public, in particular, from discovering and embracing this divine community of Muslims whose fundamental mission is to revivify the Islamic faith and practice that have suffered adulteration at the hands of the so-called Muslim scholars. Emphatically, Ahmadiyya has the overarching objective of reaffirming, restating and reinstating both the lost Islamic orthodoxy and orthopraxy through its concerted global missionary organization, under the guidance of its worldwide Supreme Head – the Khalifah. Of course, while the over thirteen-decade-history of Ahmadiyya had continuously witnessed viral spread of coordinated and systematic propaganda and opposition against it, it is worthwhile to note that their spread has always come with concomitant viral spread and embracement of the message of Ahmadiyya across the world. Hence, today, Ahmadiyya continues to grow and glow with tens of millions of memberships spread across over 220 countries and territories. An instance of such anti-Ahmadiyya campaigns which this piece seeks to refute is an anonymous write-up that has gone viral in recent time. It is titled AHMADIYYA ARE NOT MUSLIMS. In exposing the vicious propaganda by the writer, this piece adopts a point-by-point rejoinder format that first reproduces each of their misrepresentations and then straightforwardly deconstructs and reconstructs them with correct representation of facts about Ahmadiyya and its founder, beliefs, practices and history. ANTI-AHMADIYYA MISREPRESENTATION: AHMADIYAH ARE NOT MUSLIMS CORRECT REPRESENTATION: AHMADIS ARE MUSLIMS because they profess the Islamic credo: There is no God but Allah and Muhammad (saw) is His Servant and Messenger. They uphold the Islamic fundamental belief in Allah, the Angels, the revealed Scriptures, Divine Messengers and the Last Day and observe the Islamic Salat, Zakat, Fasting and Hajj as prescribed. The Holy Prophet said: Whoso observes our Salat, faces our Qiblah and eats our Islamically slaughtered animal, is a Muslim (Sahih Bukhari). ANTI-AHMADIYYA MISREPRESENTATION: In the Name of Allāh: Read and Share for the sake Of Allāh, Protect your Friend, brother, Sister, Parents From the poison of Qadianis. CORRECT REPRESENTATION: In the Name of Allāh: read and share for the sake of Allāh, guide your friend, brother, sister, parents to the truth and blessings of Ahmadiyya as distinct from the fabrications of its opponents. INTRODUCTION ANTI-AHMADIYYA MISREPRESENTATION: Ahmadiyyah, also known as Ahmadis or Qadianis is a Movement Founded in Punjab- British India at the end of 19th Century by a Man Called Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908). The Movement is directly or indirectly sponsored by Britain as it will be explained fully below. CORRECT REPRESENTATION: Ahmadiyyah, the members of which are known as Ahmadi Muslims (but incorrectly and derogatorily called Qadianis by the opponents) is an Islamic revivalist movement founded (based on divine guidance and in fulfilment of Quranic and Prophetic prophecies) in Punjab – British India – about a decade toward the end of 19th Century by a man called Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) (1835-1908). The Movement is NOT directly or indirectly sponsored by Britain. In truth, several available evidences and facts strongly and conclusively prove that Ahmadiyya could never have been an agent of the British Government. Notably, at the time when India was under the yoke of the British colonial rule and Muslims, in particular, were being awed by the mighty power of their colonial masters, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is found to be the only champion of Islam of the age that wrote with courage two powerful epistles of Islam to the then Queen of England and Empress of India, Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. The first, titled Tohfa-e-Qaisariyyah [A Gift for the Queen], was written and published in 1897 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty, while the second, Sitara-e-Qaisarah [Star of the Empress], was written on 20 August 1899 and published on 24 August, 1899. In the former, after making a faith-inspiring case for the unity of God and prophethood of Muhammad (saw) on the one hand, he went on, on the other hand, to vehemently decimate Christianity – the religion of the British – through a staunch rebuttal of the doctrines of Trinity, Atonement and sonship of Jesus. He concluded by boldly inviting Her Majesty to Islam and passionately prayed: O Almighty God! Thou art all Powerful, we beseech Thee that Thou mayest so turn the heart of our gracious Queen that she may give up all creature worship and see the light of Islam. Let her believe in the One God and His Messenger, Muhammad, till the end of her days.” Clearly, Ahmadiyya has ever been sponsored directly by Allah’s mighty grace and support through the dedicated religious struggle (Jihad) by, foremost, its Holy Founder and the successive Supreme worldwide Heads and members of the Community as it will be explained fully below. ……………………………To be continued!
A SYNOPSIS OF ISLAM IN QUINQUEPARTITE PARAGRAPH
By Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo Islam, derived from “salm” – a word meaning peace, denotes submission to the will of Allah to engender a life in peace with oneself, with one’s Creator, fellow humans and the world. “Verily, the true religion in the sight of Allāh is submission” (Qurān, 3:20). As a divinely-inspired human institution, the term “al-dīn al-islāmi” translates to the Islamic way of life (sīrah), of religion (millah), of law (sharīah), culture (ādah), judgement (qadhā), governance (hukm) and rule (mulk). Islam emerged on the global scene in the seventh century A.D. as a world religion (Qurān, 25:2) and a recrystallization of the ancient Mesopotamian abd Abrahamic family of religious traditions (Qurān, 5:16; 22:79). As a sharīah, an ideology and social order, it proclaims a mission that seeks to actualise what it christens as ihyā al-ardh ba’da mautihaa i.e. a revolutionary renaissance of the cosmos, of all ramifications of human intellectual, religious, social, economic and political existence (Qurān, 57:18). Likewise, it envisions a globalization of the world order of Allāh on earth (Qurān, 61:10) and a realization of both terrestrial and celestial paradisiacal existence for the human race (Qurān, 55:47). Recognising the weak nature inherent in humanity (Qurān, 4:29), Islam sets about to define and explain the meaning, essence and purpose of human life and to structure and guide all manifestations of man’s existence in order to enable him attain his rightful status of a being created in the image of God and to live a peaceful and prosperous life here and the Hereafter. Muhammad bin Abdullah (saw), the Holy Prophet of Islam, who is represented as the Seal of the Prophets (Qurān, 33:41), is the recipient of the Holy Qurān (Qurān, 25:2), the Divine Scripture of Islam, which embodies the fundamentals and, in some cases, the details of the theological teachings, the legal doctrines and legislations and the socio-political and economic principles and systems of Islam (Qurān, 16:90). In the 23-year span of his prophetic mission at Makkah and Madīnah, Prophet Muhammad (saw), through his Sunnah (Practice), proffered divinely-sanctioned model conception s, interpretations and applications of the Qurānic teachings and worldview for the the Muslims (Qurān, 33:22). Islam represents itself as Dīn Allāh – the religion of Allāh (Qurān, 110:3), as Dīn al Hanif – the primordial religion of man, and as Dīn al Fitrah – the natural religion or the religion that is natural to the human nature and essence (Qurān, 30:31). This conceptualisation enshrines Islam as a trans-human ideological order and system and a civilizational movement whose mandate is to invite to and construct for man a cosmic order that follows and fulfills Allāh’s tripartite intentions for bringing about human existence on earth: the intention that man should establish the worship of and servitude to the Divine [ibādatullāh] (Qurān, 51:53); that he should acquire and exert his rightful status of being God’s vicegerent on earth [Khalīfatullāh fil-ardh] (Qurān, 2:31); and as a corollary to the above, that he may populate the earth and explore, exploit, organise and usufruct the available human and cosmic resources to construct a robust and glorious human civilization on earth [isti’mār fil-ardh] (Qurān, 11:62). Islam, whose simple, humane, comprehensive and universal teachings are constructed upon the intrinsic values of human brotherhood, peace, love, understanding and respect, is decreed to be globalised, not localised; to be followed, not to follow; and to dominate and predominate, not to be dominated. Today, with over 1.8 billion followers, Islam is the second largest but the fastest growing religion in the world.
Deformation and Reformation of Islam in the Modern Time [Part 2]
Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo Islam and the Challenges of the Modern Era As every thoughtful observe would admit, the dawn of the modern era upon Islam had dragged the Muslim world to the crossroads of modern challenges. Islam was being grossly misconceived, misinterpreted and misapplied by the mainstream Muslims. The global popularity of the religion of Allah had been reduced to a nominal identity. True, nobody would dispute the fact that the prevailing conceptions and interpretations of Islam in the modern times have been quite different from the Islam of the Holy Prophet’s time. Even celebrated mainstream Muslim scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries, like Sir Seyyid Ahmad Khan [1817-1898], Jamal Din Al-Afghani [1839-1897], Muhammad Abduh [1849-1905], Dr. Muhammad Iqbal [1876-1938] and Hassan Al-Banna [1906-1946] and a host of others, had all confessed through their various writings that the modern Muslims have been guilty of misconceptions of Islam. To them, Islam of the modern era was a misunderstood religion; a religion at the crossroads! A striking corroboration of the above observation may be seen in Faizur Rasul’s note that, “When the Muslim world was still under Western imperial control, Sir Muhammad Iqbal wrote his Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, which implies the construction of Islam by the Holy Prophet and followed by his Righteous Caliphs had been deconstructed in the course of centuries which needed reconstruction, but he gives no programme how to do that. Apparently, he and others thought jihading and gaining political independence from the West alone would do the needful. It did not.” [4] The pathology of the misconception and misinterpretation of Islam which acquired its widest proportion in the modern era can be traced to the internal challenge of the lingering decline in the qualitative and unalloyed Islamic religious thought, faith and practice prevalent among the mainstream Muslims. The external factors may be linked to those challenges posed by the modern Western colonialism and its present offshoot – globalization of the Western civilization. This is because, as Thomas Benjamin asserted: “Western colonialism dispatched European colonialists to every inhabitable region, implanted and disseminated Christianity throughout the colonial world and exported the languages, laws, institutions, technology and values of the West to nearly all lands, peoples, and cultures worldwide. This political, economic, and cultural expansionism reshaped the non-European societies and cultures with which it came into sustained contact….. This history is not a closed and forgotten chapter without relevance to the problems and promise of today.” [5] In this light, it can be asserted that the tremendous intellectual, religious, cultural, economic and political warfare waged by the numerous Western colonialists, academic orientalists and Christian Missionaries against the totality of the Muslim world in the 19th and 20th centuries, coupled with the contemporary globalization phenomenon and the increasing tide of Islamophobia by the non-Muslim world have thus resulted into a complex conceptual and interpretative misrepresentations of Islam by both modern Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Consequently, the Islam we have in our modern era is such that has come with a variety of conceptually conflicting versions or brands. Thus, today, we most often read about ‘Islamism’, neo-Islamism, Salafism and neo-Salafism etc. Likewise, Islam is often prefixed with adjectives like ‘moderate’, ‘fundamentalist’, ‘radical-fundamentalist’, ‘extremist’ and ‘fanatical’ Islam and so on. AbdulFattah ibn Raji, citing Pittsburgh’s Civil Democratic Islam, distinguished four of such conflicting conceptual misrepresentations of Islam as: one, fundamentalists reject democratic values and contemporary Western culture. They want an authoritarian, puritanical state that will implement their extreme view of Islamic law and morality. They are willing to use innovation and modern technology to achieve that goal. Two, traditionalists want a conservative society. They are suspicious of modernity, innovation and change. Three, modernists want the Islamic world to become part of global modernity. They want to modernize and reform Islam to bring it into line with the age. Four, secularists want the Islamic world to accept a division of Church and State in the manner of Western industrial democracies with religion relegated to the private sphere. These groups hold distinctly different positions on essential issues that have become contentious in the Islamic world today, including political and individual freedom, education, the status of women, criminal justices, the legitimacy of reform and change, and attitudes towards the West. [6] It is equally instructive to note that these distinct positions have not been confined to academic sphere alone. They have found their cosmic expressions in the prevailing attitudes and situations in the modern Muslim citizenry and states. Hence, Dr. Saheed Timehin opined that the 20th century saw the birth of a conservative Saudi Arabia, a theocratic Iran, a radical Libya, a compromising Egypt and Gulf States, an authoritarian Pakistan and Sudan and a fundamentalist Afghanistan. All these are surrounded by a cosmopolitan adherence to Islam in West Africa and other parts of the world where the faith is characterized by discordant values and attitudes such as traditional piety, ignorant fundamentalism, cowardly liberalism and shameless syncretism.[7] At this juncture, however, it is expedient to note that, in line with the prophetic decree of history of Islam which predicted the cyclical occurrence of decline and revival of the religion, a substantial section of contemporary Muslim intelligentsia and populace have found some reasons to believe that the Prophet Muhammad’s (saw) prophecy of the grand renaissance of Islam in the modern era had found its fulfillment through the advent of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi in the person of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad [as] [1835-1908]. In 1889, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad established his Mahdi-Messianic movement – the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat – and proclaimed the mission of removing all the misconceptions, misinterpretations and misapplications to which both the adherents of Islam and its detractors had subjected the religion, and return it to its pristine logical, reasonable, rational, peaceful, simple and humane nature which the Quran and Sunnah had earlier given it. It is compelling to note, as any objective study would reveal, that a unique characteristic of the modern re-interpretations and restatements of Islam being advanced by
Believes all people should have fundamental freedoms
“For you, your religion, and for me, my religion.” Holy Qur’an 109:7 True Islam recognises that all peoples, regardless of their beliefs or backgrounds, must have freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Only governments which guarantee such freedoms can truly be called Islamic. The Holy Qur’an is a stalwart defender of human rights, and a great promoter of collective responsibility. Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan — Ahmadi Muslim, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, President of both the 17th UN General Assembly, and the International Court of Justice — wrote extensively on this topic, showing how the teachings of Islam were in fact compatible, and in many cases superior to the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (See Islam & Human Rights). Below we present a brief article of his which outlines Islam’s commitment to Freedom of Conscience, which is bedrock of all freedom: SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLAH KHAN Freedom of Conscience By Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan Islam has proclaimed complete freedom of conscience. The Qur’an is unique among all the scriptures in affirming truth and righteousness of all the Prophets and the truth of all Divine revelations, and in establish and proclaiming the right of every human being to complete freedom of conscience: There should be no compulsion in religion. Surely, right has become distinct from wrong.. (Ch.2: V.257) Again, And say: ‘It is the truth from your Lord; wherefore, let him who will, believe, and him who will, disbelieve.’(Ch. 18: V.30) The presentation of Islam to mankind must involve no pressure or coercion. Indeed no pressure or coercion was possible, as the Holy Prophet(sa) stood alone and unprotected against a hostile combination of tribes and he and his handful of early followers were subjected to the most bitter, cruel and persistent persecution all through the thirteen years of his ministry at Mecca. The manner propagation of the, faith is, however, laid down clearly the Qur’ an: “Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in a way that is best. Surely, thy Lord knows best who has strayed from His way; and He knows those who are rightly guided.”(Ch. 16: V. 126) A way of accord between all those who believe God and in Divine revelation has been proclaimed in the Qur’an. The time seems to have come, it cannot be far when the invitation extended by Islam may be availed by the followers of other revealed faiths, for the purpose of achieving a practical brotherhood of man through common spiritual values. “Say, ‘O people of the Book! come to a word equal between us and you that we worship none but Allah, and that we associate no partner with Him, and that some us take not others for Lords beside Allah.’ But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we have submitted to God’”(Ch.3: V65) As a corollary of belief in the existence and unity of God and in a divine purpose behind all creation, Islam emphasises the accountability of man in all spheres of life, and sets up a balance between this life and the hereafter. This constitutes the essence of Islam. Whoso, therefore, affirms faith in the existence and unity of God in the life hereafter and strives constantly after righteous action, becomes heir to the grace and mercy of God: “Surely, those who have believed, and the Jews and the Sabians and the Christians-whoso believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds, on them shall come no fear, nor shall they grieve.”(Ch.5: V70) It will thus be seen that Islam does truly speak to man at a universal level and seeks, through the acceptance of common values which are essential to the preservation and fostering of man’s moral and spiritual life to bring about accord in the religious sphere.
